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The effect of blood sera from newborns delivered after complicated pregnancy and abnormal labor (CPAL) on 4-cell mouse embryos is studied. The embryos develop normally in the control sera, 78-100% of them reach the blastocyst stage, the mean number of blastomeres per embryo varies from 68 to 88 cells, and the mortality rate is 3-7%. The CPAL sera have an almost 100% embryolethal effect. The development of mouse embryos is markedly delayed. The most potent pathological effect is elicited by the sera of newborns whose mothers suffered from hypoxia. Key Words: embryo; embryotoxic effect; newbornMost pathological states are accompanied by the synthesis of biologically active peptides and proteins [2,3,5]. It has been demonstrated that the amniotic fluid of women with complicated pregnancy and labor contains transfer factors that elicit an embryotoxic effect when injected in the amnion of laboratory animals and induce various disturbances in the postnatal development [1,4]. Sera of women whose babies died during delivery or shortly thereafter induce high mortality of chick embryos and abnormalities of development of brain structures [8]. Sera of newborns with marked defects of the axial rudiment and other abnormalities induce similar pathologies in chick embryos [6]. A similar pathogenic effect was demonstrated in cultured rat embryos in vitro for the sera of monkeys with a high rate of spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths [7]. Culturing of mouse blastocysts in vitro in the presence of sera from women with different disorders of reproductive function slowed down development. The synthesis of DNA, cytokeratin, fibropectin, and alkaline phosphatase was suppressed [9]. It is logical to assume that sera of women with complicated pregnancy contain biologically active factors capable of impairing the normal development of embryos in the preimplantation stages of embryogenesis. In order to confirm this possibility we attempted to study the effects of sera from healthy and sick newborns on dividing mouse embryos. MATERIALS AND METHODSBlood was obtained from the umbilical vein of 16 newborns (4 were delivered by healthy women and 12 by women with complicated pregnancy and labor). Sera were then prepared and used for in vitro culturing of 4-blastomere mouse (CBA! C57B1) embryos. Culturing was carried out at 37~ in an atmosphere of 5% CO v 5% 02 , and 90% N z. Sera of nonpregnant women, rat sera, and medium M~6 were used as controls. The num-

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